Tag: Natural

Disclaimer: This post is just my own hair experience. I am not a hair-guru, stylist, doctor or expert. I have been natural for years now. The information I know is from my personal experience and what I’ve learned from doing research, reading articles, and watching YouTube videos. I have formed some opinions along the way. Some of which I did not necessarily have before. This post is just that; my opinion. It does include some facts I pulled from the experts. Share your constructive thoughts in the comment section.

“And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering”, 1 Corinthians 11:15 (NLT). Don’t stop reading here. The King James version says, “it is a glory to her”. This verse is not at all saying all women must have long hair. Whatever length of hair that naturally grows out of your hair is a glory to you. God gave it to you as a covering. He knows that we don’t all have long hair that is touching the ground. Some of us have curly hair, others straight, some coils, others kinky, loose curls, tight curls, wavy etc.… You get the drift. The point is, whatever God gave you naturally is your glory. Before I go any further let me just say I am an advocate of HEALTHY hair. Your glory can be healthy natural or processed. I have seen and experienced terrible glory on both ends of the spectrum.

Let us move on. What happens when your glory isn’t up to par? When it is falling off against your will or desire? I will come back to this.

Here’s a little hair background. I was natural for the first 13-14 years of my life. I remember if I was 13 or 14 when my hair was relaxed. I remember it being after I started middle school. I had to beg my dad to allow me to get it relaxed. Why? I couldn’t take the agony of my mom doing my hair any longer. From there I had to go to the hair salon with her every two weeks to get my hair treated and washed. I hated that too. I hated doing roller sets and sitting under the drying. The next thing left to do was petitioning to do my own hair; which I did. I felt like I was old enough. I had these awesome twin girlfriends that would braid and style my hair for me when I asked them to. I was a teenager so it all made sense to me then. I didn’t start wearing weave in my hair until I was in college. In other words, out of my parent’s home. My dad always said my hair was long I didn’t need it and weave was of the devil. I still don’t know how but it’s funny. While in college I shaved my hair twice. The first time because I was tired of relaxed hair and didn’t have the skills or patience to transition my hair to its natural state. The second time because I visited home after my hair was dyed blond, yes blond, honey blond, and my dad was so upset he wouldn’t stop talking about it. By the time I left, I was so angry and irritated I got all of it shaved off. I could have just dyed it a darker color, but my emotions ruled me. I started wearing my hair in sew-ins and box braids as a form of protective style and a means to grow my hair out without having to do too much. I never really learned how to properly care for my hair. I started wearing wigs a couple of years after I graduated college. The only reason being fear of that thing falling off my head while I am out in public. I could make time to explain all the things I’ve done to my glory, like dying it jet black and getting a RiRi cut, but I know you don’t want to read all of that. My glory has been through it. The journey back to healthy hair was a struggle. It is all under the blood of Jesus.

My hair was finally long and healthy. Long and healthy hair is my pride and joy. It grew longer and thicker while I was pregnant with my son. That was everything. I was so happy and excited. I promised myself after I gave birth I was no longer going to invest money into buying anymore weave. I want to solely invest in better care and treatment for my natural hair. Then BOOM! I hit 3 months postpartum and the unexpected happened. I took some pictures for my blog and while reviewing the images it appeared as though my hairline was receding. I was a bit taken back so I started analyzing every picture I took after that. It appeared to be getting worse. I was concerned enough about it to talk to my doctor and do some research. So, what do you do when your hair starts felling off against your will? Be depress and cry until you figure out a solution? What if there isn’t one except for “time”? The doctor advised for me to continue taking my prenatal vitamins the hair loss will stop on its own after it runs its course, 6-12 months postpartum. That was not very comforting to hear. One day I woke up and noticed a bald spot on the right side of my hair. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but it did. a couple of weeks later there was one on the left side of my hair. Then my hair started to come out in chunks. And just like that my edges were gone.

After you give birth it’s expected and normal to shed some hair because your hair follicles are no longer in a resting stage. Postpartum hair loss is a whole other demon. Not all women experience drastic hair loss after giving birth. Some women don’t notice much of a change during or after pregnancy. Talk to your doctor to rule out any factors that may be more serious as hair loss could be a symptom of an underlying issue. I did panic at first because I’ve never lost that much hair before let along my edges and having bald spots. Since there was no way to prevent my hair from falling out I turned to preventative methods and taking really good care of it. It’s now my second baby I need to care for and look after to ensure healthy and proper growth. I continued taking my iron pills and prenatal vitamins. For a month now I’ve also been taking a food-based Multivitamin & Mineral Complex. I can’t accurately say whether it helped because its only been a month and it won’t stop the postpartum hair loss.

I contemplated getting a wig, but I decided not to and proudly rock my glory. I gave birth to an amazingly sweet little human and part of my cost was losing some hair. So be it! I refused to allow that to make me feel less than anything God says I am. Two bald spots later and with no edges left to lose I joined some ladies in this 90-day hair growth challenge. Starting today I’ll be taking It Works Hair, Skin, & Nails nourishing Complex Dietary Supplement. The bottle contains 60 tablets. I will be using J.LaShea Naturals’ products for my hair care. My goal is to achieve and maintain moisture, definition, volume, and length. God’s Word says, “but the very hairs of your head are all numbered”, Matthew 10:30. I’m going to trust he’s going to increase ALL the numbered hair that is left on my head. If I could just anoint and lay hands on every single strand. I guess I could but ain’t nobody got time for that.

One part of the challenge is to drink plenty of water daily. This part is the easiest part for me. I love drinking water and prefer it over anything else. Even milk and I LOVE milk. Yes, milk. There’s nothing like a cold glass of milk. The saying goes you must drink half of your body weight in ounces to drink enough water. Most people I know hate drinking water and are probably walking around in this Florida heat solely on God’s mercy. I weight 129 pounds. Half of that is 64.5 pounds. Let us just round it to 65 pounds. For me to drink the amount of water my body needs, I need to drink to drink 65 ounces of water every day. That is equivalent to four 16.9 ounces bottles of water. I have a bottle that can hold a little over 32 ounces of water. Two of that bottle is enough for me.

I wash my hair with shampoo once a month and twice a week with conditioner. I use TRESemme anti-breakage conditioner with vitamin b12 and gelatin to co-wash twice a week. I use PANTENE PRO-V shampoo once a month to clean my scalp and hair and to fight frizz. Normally I use a TRESemme shampoo also, but I wanted to try PANTENE. I’m not a product junkie so I don’t have or use too many hair products. My hair has high porosity. Moisture is everything! My hair freezes easily and needs a lot of moisture. Thankfully it’s not dull looking or easily tangled. The way to test your hair porosity is by taking a stand(s) of clean dry hair and place in a clear glass of water. If your hair floats, you have low porosity. If your hair goes to the middle, you have medium porosity. That “just right porosity”. If it goes to the bottom you have high porosity glory.

I’ll be using the Shea Souffle for moisture and shine. It also helps stimulate growth. The kit comes with an herb-infused growth oil that I’ll be using 3 times a week. It contains MSM which helps create keratin. My hair needs a lot of strengthening due to how much of it I’ve lost. The Henna Gloss every 2 weeks will help with that. Also, the Henna Strengthening Hair Mask every 6 weeks. I’m leaving the Multani Clay Wash for when I do my wash day. The J.LaShea Naturals Kit comes with a pamphlet that explains what each product contains and how to use it.

My current length

My texture

My attempts of protective styles

This is probably the longest blog post I’ve published. At least it feels that way to me. I’m glad you made it to the end. Here’s to long, better, healthier glory!

Until my next publication, see you all on Facebook and Instagram, where you will hopefully share this post. This month’s interview will be with the beautiful and amazing CEO of Chosen Vessels Apparel, Faint Adams. Lookout for that!